The Rinnegan (輪廻眼, Literally meaning: Saṃsāra Eye) is reputed as the most exalted eyes amongst the Three Great Dōjutsu (三大瞳術, San Daidōjutsu, Literally meaning: Three Great Eye Techniques),[3] along with the Byakugan and the Sharingan.[4] It originated from Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's Rinne Sharingan, and truly manifested for the first time as a kekkei mōra in her son, the Sage of the Six Paths. Its dual variant is characterised by a ripple-like pattern which spreads over the eyeball, with light purple sclerae and irides, and its singular variant has the same features, albeit containing a pattern of six tomoe.

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Background

Madara obtaining the Rinnegan after infusing Hashirama's cells into himself.

It is said that in times when the world is in disorder, a person is sent down from the heavens to become either a "God of Creation" who will calm the world, or a "Destroyer" who will reduce everything to nothingness.[1] The Rinnegan originated from Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's Rinne Sharingan, and was first truly manifested by her son, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, who came to be revered as the Sage of the Six Paths by using his dōjutsu to create the groundwork that brought forth all modern ninjutsu.[5]

For Kaguya to be revived, a person must first awaken the Rinnegan to summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path from the moon. To this end, Black Zetsu spent centuries manipulating the reincarnations of Indra and Asura to awaken the Rinnegan by combining their chakra. After centuries of failing, only Madara awakened the Rinnegan through this method.[6]

As a result of the Sage's mythical status, many people believed the Rinnegan was only a legend or a mutation.[7] Because the Rinnegan was wielded by the Sage of the Six Paths, merging the chakra of his two sons, Indra Ōtsutsuki and Asura Ōtsutsuki, within one's body brings forth the Sage's chakra, which can evolve their Sharingan into the Rinnegan.[8] This was proven when Madara Uchiha, Indra's reincarnation at the time, awakened the dōjutsu from his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan by infusing the DNA of Hashirama Senju, Asura's reincarnation at the time, into his body; however, it did not manifest until many years later when he was near death.[9] At some point after this, Madara would implant his eyes into Nagato — a young boy of Senju lineage.[10] Under the guise of Madara and inheriting the former's work, Obito Uchiha claimed that he was entitled to take the Rinnegan from Nagato's body after his death.[11] He then implanted the left Rinnegan into himself and hid the right Rinnegan, unable to handle the power of both eyes.[12][13]

Sasuke's six-tomoe Rinnegan.

When Madara was reincarnated by Kabuto Yakushi to fight the Allied Shinobi Forces, Madara once again gained access to this dōjutsu. Based on data collected over the years, Orochimaru and Kabuto theorised that because the Sharingan originated from the Rinnegan, it was possible for the dōjutsu to change into the Rinnegan as part of a "natural evolution".[14] However, upon Madara's true revival as a living being, he no longer possessed his eyes, as his reincarnated state had been merely a reflection of his former self and he had died without his actual eyes. A White Zetsu managed to retrieve the right Rinnegan from Obito's hiding place and returned it to Madara, who implanted it in his previously empty right eye socket.

After receiving half of Hagoromo's power, Sasuke Uchiha awakened a Rinnegan containing six tomoe in his left eye.[15]

In addition, the user is granted the Outer Path, which gives them control over life and death.[30] It also allows the user to bind those who touch their chakra receivers as well as manifest the chakra chains of the Demonic Statue, which can be used to bind and control tailed beasts in a similar fashion to the Sharingan and Wood Release.[31] The Outer Path grants a shared field of vision between the Rinnegan wielder, the King of Hell, and the creatures and reanimated corpses which have copies of the user's Rinnegan.[32][33]

Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.

By embedding up to six corpses with chakra receivers, the user can control the corpses as additional bodies, referred to as the Six Paths of Pain. The corpses possess copies of the user's dōjutsu and each can utilise one of the abilities of the Six Paths Technique, though their usage is inferior to that of the user's main body. Obito made use of this method to control six reincarnated jinchūriki, which had their former tailed beasts temporarily bound to their bodies using chakra receivers while remaining in Obito's possession through the Demonic Statue's chakra chains.[34]

The various abilities of the dual variant of the Rinnegan remain intact upon being transplanted into another individual, but only when both eyes are wielded by the original owner can their full power be accessed.[13] Also, only an original owner of this dōjutsu has demonstrated the ability to deactivate the Rinnegan.[35] Because of its ocular power and potent chakra, not all individuals are capable of handling a transplanted Rinnegan, a trait which is worsened by attempting to implant two.[13] It is unknown what effect this dōjutsu has on one's chakra reserves, though Nagato wielded two transplanted Rinnegan for years unhindered, even in his emaciated state and prior to being trained as a shinobi. The Rinnegan also has the ability to negate the blindness of an eye and restore its previous powers upon its awakening.[36]

Rinnegan Forms

Trivia

The anime's first rendition of the Rinnegan.

Sasuke's Rinnegan as it appeared in the colour digital editions of chapters 676 and 678.

Rinne (輪廻, lit. "Wheel Cycle") is the Japanese term for Samsara, the cycle of reincarnation or rebirth in several Indian religions. This is reflected in the names of all Six Paths of Pain, which share their names with the six Samsaric realms of reincarnation.

The kanji "Rin" (輪, Literally meaning: Wheel) is also used in Sharingan and Rinne Sharingan, potentially linking the three terms etymologically.

In the anime, the Rinnegan was depicted as being multicoloured in its first few appearances. Once coloured manga illustrations of the Rinnegan were released, this was corrected. However, whereas the Rinnegan is depicted as a single shade of purple in the manga, the centre-most ring is depicted as a darker purple in the anime.

In Naruto: Shippūdenepisode 203, a silhouette of the Sage of the Six Paths is shown. Here, the Sage's Rinnegan is shown to be red instead of the usual colour.

In the digital manga chapters colourised by Shueisha's production team, Sasuke's Rinnegan was coloured red, like Madara and Kaguya's Rinne Sharingan. Later illustrations coloured by Kishimoto instead depict it with the usual purple colouring. The colouration was corrected in subsequent digitally colourised chapters.